He had a couple of minutes. “Are you all right, Carrie?”

She glanced the way her mother-in-law had gone. “I’m fine. The nurse fixed me up. I’ll be out of the sling soon.”

“Is Bobby treating you right?”

Her eyes flared and then her gaze wouldn’t meet his. “I said everything is fine.”

Damn it. Lila was right. Something was going on. “If he’s hurting you, I can help.”

“I’m clumsy. That’s all.” Her chin came up, and he saw a grim resolve in her eyes. “I should have known that woman would be trouble. Tell that nurse to keep her nose out of my business. I’ll find another place to go if I get hurt again. She’s got no right to make accusations.”

“She’s an expert, and she sees a pattern of injuries that don’t work with your explanation,” he pointed out. “If you’re worried no one will believe you, you’re wrong.”

“Is there a problem, Sheriff?” Lorna was back, her stare going from him to her daughter-in-law as though assessing the situation.

“There’s no problem, Mother Petrie.” The calm smile was back on her face. “Apparently the new lady at the clinic is very thorough.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t mention that it wasn’t Doc you saw.” Lorna managed to make the statement into an accusation.

“I told Bobby about it,” Carrie replied. “It wasn’t a big deal. Now, Sheriff, please let the nurse know that I’m fine. I’m feeling much better and won’t need to come back for a follow-up.”

Lorna huffed. “Follow-up? What an idiotic notion. She’s fine. She’s already working. The girl’s tough. She don’t need some uppity city nurse to turn her into a whining baby like the rest of them. Now go and get out of here. We have things to do before the men get back. And tell that deputy of yours that we’re unincorporated land here. She’s got no right to check on anything at all. Only code out here is the Petrie code.”

Roxie simply smiled. “The coop’s perfectly fine to me. Not that I know a lot about them, but the chickens seemed happy, too.”

Lorna shook her head. “Ridiculous rules.”

“Unincorporated land or not, I’m still the law here, and you would do best to remember it.” He turned and walked away, knowing Roxie was right behind him. He got on the boat and looked back.

Carrie stood in the doorway, half in and half out, a shadow over her face.

Lila was right and something was happening with that girl, but damn if he knew what to do about it.

“We can’t bring the husband in if the wife won’t tell us anything’s wrong,” Roxie pointed out as she pulled the rope in. “Unless you want to start asking around. See if anyone’s seen something.”